I was not born yet when Kerr (say it=
Car) Scott died but I heard about him (Born
#OTD, April 16, 1958). My Deddy respected his progressive ‘get-it-done’ Rooseveltian ways. He clearly believed that government could have a positive influence on the people of the state. Historically he is above most NC political servants in the 20th century-yes Helms was nationally, even internationally known, but he was a negative force on the planet — A Pox -- Scott was positive in a great many aspects.
Kerr Scott was the closest North Carolina has ever come to a Big Personality Southern Governor a la Earl Long (LA) or ‘Big Jim’ Folsom (AL). He was physically big, loud, even boisterous, wore outlandish ties, and brandished a cigar while extolling the virtues of possum stew to city big shots. “The Squire of Haw River” was a private in WWI, graduated State College, and was deeply committed to the farm families of the state. He never stopped dairy-farming in Alamance County nor focusing on the needs of North Carolina’s country folk. He served as an Agricultural Extension Agent, the state Secretary of Agriculture, Governor, and US Senator.
My Deddy was also Rooseveltian and probably more Eleanor than Franklin Delano. He was appointed Postmaster in
#Bonlee during the New Deal and he too believed that government could, and should, work in partnership with the people of North Carolina. In 1947 Kerr Scott upset the tobacco sled of Tar Heel politics by wrestling the governorship from the grip of the textile barons and elites, known as the Shelby Dynasty, by appealing to North Carolina’s working class. He did this by directly targeting their needs and concerns. Primary to that successful campaign was paving roads.
I’ve long had a meandering ‘back way’ from my childhood home in
#DeepChatham to my adopted and much beloved Chapel Hill. Most of that 35 mile ride is over State Roads named for local folks and church communities. Those byways are narrow but for my entire life at least they’ve been asphalt and all-weather passable. Before Kerr Scott you couldn’t have made that same trek during certain seasons because they were literally quagmires. Scott knew those same back roads - he’d traversed them both as a farmer going to market and as an Ag Agent. He appealed to the folks that lived ‘out there’ in a quirky but effective ways - he talked about raising the gas tax but that he’d do that to pay for paving roads that would permanently remove the “Mud Tax” that thwarted rural travel for work, worship, and education. And he pushed for rural school improvements and electrification. In the immediate post-WWII years most North Carolinians living outside of cities, which was 75% of the population, were without electricity.
An aside - paving those country roads made transit between those small communities increasingly possible during the winter months of harsh weather - and a good deal of those school improvements meant the addition of a gymnasium. I would argue that such a combination did almost as much to facilitate the boom in basketball in North Carolina as did NC State’s hiring of Everett Case to bring the game from Indiana or UNC’s luring of Frank McGuire, with his New York City players. After all, finally during those darkest nights of December through March, when farm chores were at their minimum those popcorn-scented cracker boxes provided arenas for hard-fought battles between the boys AND girls from places like
#Bonlee,
#Bennett, and
#Goldston in emulation of equally ferocious contests among the Big Four of UNC, NC State, Duke, and Wake Forest.
Remembering historical context we cannot forget that Scott was a man of his times and his sentiments regarding race were deeply flawed and sadly he stood for segregation through the end of his days in 1958. As much as that stance was generational, Scott did win the support of the small percentage (14%) of African Americans voting in North Carolina in the ‘40s and ‘50s. Scott’s ‘Branchhead Boys,’ the nickname for his backers because they were said to live close by where streams and creeks originated, were essentially a class-based and mildly populist alliance that at least harkened back to the Fusion Movement that surrounded the Farmers Alliance during the 1890s.
I can’t help but think back to this time when working people in the state so clearly voted their best interests in transportation, economics, and education, rejecting a status quo that took them for granted and mainly worked counter to their needs. Would that the grandchildren of those voters awaken to the common sense of their ancestors and we could lift North Carolina out of the modern morass that regressive politicians have made.
He died young, too many ham biscuits & cigars.
#OTD in 1958 Kerr Scott (born 1896) died. Agricultural Commissioner, Governor, & US Senator but also lifetime Alamance Dairyman, he was a New Dealer, pushing for rural electrification, paved roads & telephones. Raising the gas tax to remove the “Mud Tax”moved NC forward.